News Release

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International opera star to perform
classic French selections at Memorial Hall

CHAPEL HILL -Grammy-winning opera singer Susan Graham, who this season has performed on stages from Paris to Los Angeles, will kick off the second half of her 2006-07 world tour at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Carolina Performing Arts will present Graham's performance at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 10 in the Beasley-Curtis Auditorium in Memorial Hall. Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau will accompany her.

The all-French performance by the American singer will include selections by classical composers Achille-Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Charles Gounod (1818-1893), César Franck (1822-1890), Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) and others. A master of French, German and Italian opera, Graham has a strong connection with the French musical tradition.

The French government honored the mezzo-soprano with its highest award for performers, the Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and her hometown, Midland, Texas, designated Sept. 5 Susan Graham Day in the city.

The New York Times writes that Graham, who has recorded or contributed to more than a dozen albums, has "impressed audiences with her creamy singing and chiseled characterizations" for the better part of a decade.

Tickets for Graham's performance, $24-$50, are available online at www.carolinaperformingarts.org, by calling (919) 843-3333 or from the Memorial Hall Box Office on Cameron Avenue, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Tickets for Carolina students are $10. Tickets also are on sale for other performances. For more information, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org.

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Note: For artist media kits and downloadable photos, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org/media.

Carolina Performing Arts contacts: Don Smith, (919) 843-3119, donsmith@email.unc.edu, and Jennifer Warner, (919) 966-3834, jenniferwarner@unc.edu